


Doing the Right Thing

by Carpe56



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Confused Zuko, F/M, Fix It, Fluff, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-20
Updated: 2020-04-20
Packaged: 2021-03-01 22:53:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,640
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23744881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Carpe56/pseuds/Carpe56
Summary: He didn’t ask for this chance, or really want it, but Zuko was never lucky, so when he dies and is sent back in time to when he was trying to catch the Avatar he was going to do it right. Even if that meant losing his sanity in the process.
Relationships: Zuko & Everyone, Zuko & Iroh, Zuko/Honor, Zuko/Sokka Bromance
Comments: 15
Kudos: 268





	1. “The Boy in the Ice”

Zuko didn’t know what happened, if anything he was just as confused as everyone else. One minute he was at the Fire Lord connotation and the next he was on the ground. He felt the blood rush to his side, but instead of it staying inside, he felt it run out. He felt his eyes grow heavy and heard the screams of his people. He was still healing from the lighting for Angi’s sake and he was already attacked? Just his luck. With an exhale of his breath he was consumed by the darkness. 

When he opened them again, he was on an ironclad ship in the middle of the sea, he was wearing a heavy set of armor from the feel of it, but most unsettling was the fact that his scar burned. It hadn’t burned since Katara started to treat it with her waterbending, she told him that it would never go away but she could take the physical pain it brought away from him. Something was wrong, and when something went wrong for Zuko, it went Every. Every. Wrong. His gaze drifted upwards when he saw a bright spiral of light that could be seen from miles around, it looked almost identical to the one he had seen a year prior. In fact...with a tight pivot around he saw another familiar scene, his uncle sitting down playing Pai Sho. “Uncle?” Zuko’s voice was tentative, the last time he had seen the older man there were at war and they were both crying. 

The former Dragon of the West eyes stayed glued to the board in front of him, but that doesn’t stop him from talking, “Prince Zuko, that is most likely the celestial lights. We’ve been down this road before, have we not? I don’t want you to get too excited over nothing. Please, sit. Why don’t you enjoy a cup of calming jasmine tea?” Zuko was either having the most vivid dream of his life, or he had gone off the deep end. Considering his family history he was betting on the latter. 

Zuko's first instinct was always anger, no matter how much he tried to kick the habit it always poked its ugly head around. Taking a deep breath in through his nose and out through his mouth, he tried again. “I don’t need any calming tea.” That wasn’t necessarily true, but he would never in a million years tell his uncle that, speaking of him, he looked a little put out. “What I need to know is what is going on, Helmsman, head a course for the light!” With his piece being said Zuko made his way to his cabin in hopes of finding a calendar because he had a hunch that he feared was right. As he was walking down the metal corridors, he caught sight of his reflection, his face looked younger but anger was already edged into it, his theory was further proven by the state of his hair. It was held in a high ponytail with the side shaved to the scalp to prove loyalty to the Fire Nation. Oh Angi, he was back in the past, and with that thought he quickened his pace to his room. 

Zuko knows things now that he didn’t before, he knew that his father did not have the right to take his honor from him, that the Fire Lord was corrupt and was wrong, and most importantly that finding the Avatar and taking him to his home land was not the right thing to do. The more in depth his thoughts got, the more frequently they spilled out of his mouth. “What would Uncle do?” Deeping his voice and talking at a much slower rate he started again, “If one way works, and the road that leads up to the right has many wrong turns, maybe it is the better option than the one that starts right but has the possibility of ending wrong.” Zuko slapped his face in frustration, his nose exhaling the tiniest bit of stream. That didn’t even make a lick of sense. “If I do everything the same, I know for sure everything will end up okay, If I start to change what I do, I could mess up the end result and we lose.” That was the biggest problem, he had the chance to change things, to be the person he was meant to be from the start rather than the end. Unfortunately, he also knew that he was a key player in getting Aang to be the avatar and not just the little kid he wanted to be, part of Zuko’s destiny was to play the monster. Even if the monster did not want to, he would, because that was the person he had become.

As that final tune played in his head, he heard the lightest knock at the door, then it swung open with a shudder. “I’m going to bed now.” Iroh then threw his hands high over his head, stretching as he yawned. “Yep. A man needs his rest. Prince Zuko, you need some sleep, don't just sit in here and brood. Even if you’re right and the Avatar is alive, you won’t find him. Your father, grandfather, and great-grandfather all tried and failed.” Zuko almost held back his comments about knowing that the Avatar was alive and most likely riding penguin’s in the snow. 

Try to stick to the script to not alert his Uncle of anything being wrong -yet- he said, “Because their honor does not hinge on the Avatar’s capture. Mine does. The coward’s hundred years of running away are over.” He recalled Sokka telling him that ‘Angry Enemy Zuko’ said the word honor in almost every sentence. Maybe he should have said it one more time just to be safe? Iroh's forehead gains another wrinkle as he walks out of the room leaving Zuko to sit in his thoughts alone once again. He could do this, maybe he couldn’t be the prince he wanted to be, but he would do better this time.

\-----------------------------------------------------------  
From the time he spent with/ looking for the Avatar one thing that got better was his fighting style. He had branched out a bit from the proper form and merged some of the other bending techniques with his own. The change did wonders for his bending, as it became easier for him to do, but it was hard to hide with Iroh staring at his every muscle. Decked out in all his royal armor and with two soldiers of which he didn’t know the names of, stood in front of him, Zuko waited for his uncle to give him the starting que, “Go.” He remembered this sequence pretty well and sent fire from both of his fists. The guard on his left shot back forcing him to duck and ended up right in line of fire from guard number 2 who bended through his feet. Zuko wasn’t fazed though and kicked himself up and over propelled by his flames, landing behind them, the sense a mirror of what it was a second before. When the guards did not go to keep on attacking and he realized that he performed the finishing move, he let out the air he had trapped in his chest to bend with. Twisting to hear the corrections that his uncle had to make on the set, what he didn’t expect to see was the way the older man’s eyebrows were bunched together or how he looked a little misty eyed and not for the first time Zuko was perplexed on what he did wrong. He was about to ask when his Iroh beat him to it.

“Yes! You finally figured out, that fire comes from the lungs and that oxygen transforms to become energy. The energy extends past your limbs and becomes fire.” He got a proud smile on his face before he questioned, “When did you master this?” 

Good, Zuko was a fantastic liar. “Uh...Well you see I found these- ah- Scrolls! Yes, I found them in the belly of this ship and read them.” Nodding to himself, impressed, but just to make sure that he sold it all the way he added, “Every single word.” He could almost hear Toph laughing and pointing at him.

The general did not seem to share in Zuko’s successes, his attention changing focus to the guards, he said “Leave us be, if you would be so kind.” Waited for the door to shut behind them, before flipping back to Zuko, “so, you found scrolls for a fire bending move that is taught to young kids, in a ship that I helped stock, where we keep all the food.” Oh he was so screwed, but the older man's mouth was already moving ahead before he could explain himself. “You do not have to tell me what is going on with you, Prince Zuko, but know that I am here to help.” 

If that didn’t make Zuko feel bad he didn’t know what did. Letting his fire pop in his hands (a quick release of tension) he bit the inside of his cheek, this man who stood across from him was the best father a boy could ask for. He had never once let him down, so maybe he could share this burden with him as well. Before he could lose his newly found courage he spilled. “Uncle, I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.” No that wasn’t what he meant to say so he started over again. “I- I’m.” I’m not yours. You lost another kid. “I’m from the future.” That...Wasn’t exactly how he wanted to break the news to him. The roasted duck that his uncle started to eat was spit right into Zuko’s face, lifting a hand he wiped the warm substance from his eyes. 

“REALLY” all of his facial expressions were comical. Coughing to give himself time to get his thoughts together he expressed, “I thought you were going to say about being in inner turmoil not that...that your.” He hit the ground like a fish-goat. 

“GUARDS!” 

With Iroh in the infirmary, and the crew settled down, all that Zuko was doing was waiting when he saw it through the telescope. The flare that Aang and Katara had set off, he lowered the device to see his friends? enemies? running away from the abandoned war ship. Following them he once again got to see the sibling’s home land. This time he would be better, this time he would not lose his honor to try and find his father’s.


	2. Avatar Returns

As the ship crashes into the wall, it collapses into a heap of ice and snow which tumbles back into the village, then the ship is brought to a halt. Zuko had always hated the way the bowsprit sounded, like a cat hanging on for dear life, its gnashing of metal on metal sound. He counts to 5 in his head before making his way down the gangplank, he sees Sokka out of the corner of his eye recovering from jumping out of the way, then he’s running towards Zuko, an adolescent war cry piercing the crisp air. Zuko has a hard time keeping his face serious as he kicks the weapon out of the teen’s untrained hands. Before he had kicked Sokka in the face, but in fear of hurting his teeth Zuko aims a bit lower and hits his side instead, which still sends him flying. Zuko hears him struggle to get out of the snow but instead of turning back and helping, he must keep moving. The villagers in front of him draw back in obvious fright having seen the ease with which their only warrior had been taken out. Swallowing back the bile, he scans over the crowd, his eyes landing on Katara and the elder woman, he starts to slowly make his way over. 

“Where are you hiding him!?” He shouts. He knows Aang is around here somewhere, but that he doesn’t understand that the world is at war. He doesn’t know the responsibility that rests on his too young shoulders yet and that it was Zuko’s job to teach him, so even if he didn’t want to do this, he would. This time when he doesn’t see anyone respond to his questions instead of forcing Katara’s Gran Gran into his grasp, he leads her. “He’d be about this age? Master of all the elements?” Pausing for a moment, he gives her back to Katara. What had he done next? 

He extended one of his fists and shot flames behind him instead of right over the villagers’ heads, but it still did the trick and the folks all cower in fear. Accept one, he could feel the older woman's eyes burning into his side, like she knew something was wrong, but he couldn’t spend too much time thinking about that because Sokka was launching another attack on him. The weapon that had been kicked from his hands was back in its rightful place as he charged, and it would have been a good sneak attack if he hadn’t yelled loud enough for everyone in Ba Sing Se to hear him. Zuko grabbed him by the front of his shirt and threw him towards the crowd. Then when he landed, Zuko shot a thread of fire towards him making sure to keep the heat on low. Sokka barrel rolled to dodge, and in one fluid movement tossed his boomerang right at Zuko’s face. A little startled at that he jumped backwards, but this time he knew it would come back around. 

“Show him no fear!” a child, looking like he was 6, shrieked. He then hurled a long pointy stick into Sokka’s hand. Running straight towards Zuko, not even trying to mask what his plan was, he tried to make him a shish kebab. Using his forearms, he snapped the poorly made weapon into 3 tiny pieces, he then took the longest of the three and bonked the teen’s head with it making him fall on his back. 

He forgot about the boomerang. 

Before he could think of what to do next to make Sokka look like a bigger goof than he already was, he was knocked right off his feet, flipping over with his butt sticking up for the world to witness. He hears the cheers of the children, as if Aang was fire flakes and not just a 12 year old. Then he hears his friend’s voice. “Hey Katara. Hey Sokka.” 

In one of the driest tones he knew that Sokka possessed he said, “Hi...Aang. Thanks for comin’.” Zuko finally gets his bearing’s enough to get up and assume a stance, Aang doing the same, holding his glider like it was a deadly weapon. With his men flanking him, Zuko starts to close in on Aang, he was the prey to Zuko’s predator. Aang wasn’t going to give in that easy though and with a blast of air that only Zuko was prepared for, all the soldiers got sent away while he got covered in snow. 

“Looking for me?” Aang said in a prepubescent voice. 

This was his moment to reveal to the siblings who the boy before them was. “You’re the airbender? You’re the Avatar?” He laid on the confusion as thick as he could, pronouncing the words as if they were covered in a thick peanut butter jelly. 

The gasp from Katara and Sokka showed that they had gotten the message. “Aang?” Katara squawked in disbelief. 

Sokka wasn’t doing any better with his, “No way.”

Zuko and Aang were moving circles around each other as if the village was an arena and they were about to throw down, Zuko knew that wasn’t the case but it was still a nice thought. “I’ve spent years preparing for this encounter.” Not really, it had been like a night. “Training, Meditating. And YOU’RE JUST A CHILD.” Man, if he heard anyone say that to Aang he would punch them square in the face. 

“Well, you’re just a teenager.” Aang shot back like a game of ping pong. In quick succession Zuko fired blast after blast, making Aang cry out as he flipped his staff around. However his twilling did not protect the villagers behind him. Zuko felt sick as he heard the cries of the people. He watched as Aang’s eyes went big and the realization that he could not protect them set in. 

Looking back at Zuko, begging he asked, “If I go with you, will you promise to leave everyone alone?” Nodding like he did a year ago the soldiers grab Aang and start to force him into the ship. 

“No, Aang! Don’t do this!” Zuko had to close his eyes against the anguish in her voice. Aang calls back reassurances’ that he will be fine, and just make sure to keep care of his flying bison.   
“Head a course to the Fire Nation.” A plan was forming in his head, Aang would be getting off his ship, he’d make sure of that. 

Aang was quiet as they made their way through the ship, which was never a good sign. Zuko’s back was already having phantom pains from this fight, how he was thrown against a wall and a ceiling one after the other and he just hoped he could avoid that at all coast. Once Iroh came into view Zuko turned to face the Avatar, (He would never be his ‘Aang’ again, a nasty voice that sounded suspiciously like Azula, snarked) he tore the staff from his hand, and spun it around a couple of times. Nodding to the guard, he watched as Aang was led away, knowing that he was going to escape. 

Zuko almost sprinted to his room to get there in time, once he was there he placed the staff right in front of the door, and stood at the blind spot on the side, and waited. He heard the shouts of the guards as they fought with the little guy. He heard heavy feet pound on the floor, chasing that of foot steps’ lighter than a feather. Then the door opens with a bang and shuts with a snap, the Avatar exclaiming “My Staff!” 

Zuko made his presence known by blasting Aang who squeaked. Again, and again he fired and missed making sure to keep his stance unusually wide, when Aang finally takes the hint and rolls through them. Zuko spins around just in time to see the boy make an air scooter. The dance continues until Aang grabs a tapestry off the wall and wraps Zuko in it and this time Zuko does not struggle to try and get out. He lets Aang get away. Only after counting to five does he run after him, when he spots the glider is in the air, he leaps and grabs his foot, halting his old? New? friend’s get away. They hit the deck with a splat, but both recovered quickly. Getting back into a weak stance, even though he was ready for Appa and Co to interrupt the fight. 

“APPA!” Aang really needed to stop getting distracted in the middle of the fight, because someone one day was going to take advantage of that. Zuko sent another fire fist which only got blocked again but Aang had lost ground and was almost sent overboard. To get this part over with, Zuko sent a stronger whip of fire his way, making him fall into the water. 

Katara's voice was hysterical as she howled, “Aang! No!” Only a few seconds pass before Aang’s tattoo’s glow an eerie white, the water bending to his every whim forming a monstrous tornado. Aang did some kind of attack, one of which Zuko couldn’t process because he was too busy getting blasted back by it. He could almost hear the music pick up with tension as he tried to find something to grab a hold of. Then he felt the thing he grabbed onto getting pulled up, he looked up to see Sokka on the other end of the glider. A smile curls onto the other man’s face as he doinks Zuko in the head three times and Zuko falls again. More frantically this time Zuko hands searched for something to hold onto when he found the anchor. 

“Ha! That’s from the Water Tribe.” He could smile now that no one could see him. He had always loved Sokka’s dumb sayings - well maybe not always, but they grew on him. 

Shaking those thoughts from his head he started to climb the chain. He hears his Uncle’s confused “Huh?” before he sees the hand that was willing to help him back onto the ship. This time he wasn’t going to order the guards to attack when one of the higher rank ones did it for him. 

“Shoot them down!” The next time that man needed help, he would have to look somewhere other than Zuko because he kind of wanted to cook him. Fireballs explode from the other officer’s hands aimed right at Appa, but Aang is faster. Using his staff like a baseball bat he hits the bended element at the exact right angle for it to hit the iceberg that is lining the narrow passage the ship is going through, blocking the way. 

“Good news for the Fire Lord. The nation’s greatest threat is just a little kid.” The fact that Iroh had just woken up was obvious from the smell of his breath. 

Zuko turned to his crew before saying, “Dig this ship out and follow them, as soon as your, a-ah done with that.” Than faced his Uncle and said, “That kid, Uncle, is going to save the world from the Fire Lord and I’m going to help him. Ozai should be scared.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all of those who got this far!!! I have been having a lot of fun writing this story so thanks for all the lovely feedback. Please tell me if you see any dumb mistakes or some feels out of character. I really like constructive criticism so don’t feel bad about giving it. I hope you have an awesome day.

**Author's Note:**

> Please give Constructive criticism down below and tell me what you think. I am writing this from the episode transcribes and filling in the gaps in my memories by watching clips of the show so if anything is wrong please be a doll and inform me. Have a lovely day!


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